Syracuse University School of Education places well above state average in teacher certification scores

Syracuse University School of Education places well above state average in teacher certification scoresApril 09, 2001Jonathan Hayjhay@syr.edu

Graduates of Syracuse University’s School of Education placed well above the New York state average in every category of teaching certification exams administered between Jan. 22, 2000, and Jan. 20, 2001. The U.S. Department of Education has mandated this year for the first time that every university and college in the United States with a teacher education program report to its state the percentage of students who pass state teaching exams. Today is the deadline for the institutional reports to be submitted to the appropriate state agencies. The states, in turn, are required to rank institutions by their pass rates and deliver the ranking reports to the U.S. Department of Education in October. “This is a wonderful representation of the quality of the School of Education’s teacher preparation programs,” says Amie Redmond, assistant dean for undergraduate studies in SU’s School of Education. “Our students are constantly given the opportunity to put educational theory into practice by spending an enormous amount of time in classrooms around the region. The student teaching experience keeps them on the leading edge of what they need to know as effective educators.” Testing is conducted in three overall topic areas: Liberal Arts and Science Test (LAST); Assessment of Teaching Skills-Written (ATS-W); and Content Specialty Exam (CST). The LAST test was administered five times from January 2000 to January 2001. An average of 93.6 percent of the SU graduates taking the exam passed, compared to the New York state average of 74.4 percent. The ATS-W was split into testing categories for elementary and secondary education students. SU had 99.6 percent of its graduates pass the elementary test, while 92.25 percent passed the secondary education test. The state average was 78.8 percent and 82 percent, respectively. SU’s School of Education had some of its finest scoring in the CST, which was split into five categories: elementary education, English, mathematics, social studies, biology and chemistry. In elementary education, SU averaged 90.25 percent, while the state average was 73.25. SU had 100 percent of its students pass the English examination compared to a state average of 72.6 percent. SU scored another 100 percent in mathematics, while the state average was 59 percent. In social studies, SU had 100 percent of its students pass compared to a 70 percent state average. SU saw 75 percent of its biology students pass compared to 61.75 percent across the state. Finally, SU scored another 100 percent in chemistry compared to 59 percent for the state average.

“The School of Education’s faculty are top-notch researchers and teachers who pass on that knowledge to our students well before it appears in their textbooks,” Redmond says. “The combination of access to leading researchers and the time our students spend in Central New York classrooms give them a real head start on becoming leaders in education.” A more extensive breakdown of the testing results is attached.